Why Democracy Always Fails

Something so hopelessly unfit for purpose should be confined entirely to satirical cabaret shows

Image credit: the author

Imagine boarding a commercial airliner along with a few hundred other people. After taking your seat, you see some of your fellow-passengers standing up. Mostly these people are in the Business-First section, but there are one or two in the economy section where you’re sitting.

The people standing up begin to regale everyone with grandiose tales of how amazing they will be as a pilot (despite having no experience whatsoever, and not even knowing what function the various controls perform). They promise to fly the plane to marvelous destinations rich in sun, sand, and cheap sangria (despite having no idea whatsoever of the plane’s maximum range, nor any idea about the location of possible destination airports).

You notice some of your fellow-passengers becoming excited, bellowing loudly their belief in one candidate or another and how their preferred candidate is going to save the airplane, make the airplane great again, take back control of the airplane, and so on.

You also note that out of the two-hundred-and-eighty passengers present, the two who actually know something about aviation are trying to explain to everyone else that the wild promises being made by…